French hobbyists crack Credit Card that uses chip and RSA encryption

The French Credit Card uses a state of the art technology: a chip embedded with strong encryption measures. The authentification keys are 320 and 728 bits long and are RSA encoded. As soon as the private key was anonymously published on the Net back in March 2000, French hobbyists started working on an emulator which resulted in a software program being developed which enables hackers and others to clone or emulate a valid credit card. The proof of the authentification flaw was first demonstrated by Serge Humpich on July 1998. He purchased Paris subway tickets with his self-made credit card and then was busted one month later.

Now anyone is able to make their very own Credit Card with this new tool and because the RSA encryption is not even used during the transaction, one can purchase anything below 600 Francs (about $90). When the transaction amount is below 600 Francs the card's validity is not checked. Random CC number may then be used for real transactions. Since no link can be found in English, a translated review will be soon posted at alpha-solution.com.